slimline

Altenew March 2023 Marvelous Monthly Series Release Blog Hop #1 + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

March 17, 2023

Good morning! Today, the folks at Altenew are hopping along to celebrate the newest Marvelous Monthly release for March, 2023! These monthly subscription series are always such fun and a great value, providing so many different elements to create a huge variety of stunning cards. I have two cards to share with you today, featuring the new Build-A-Garden: Dancing Poppies and Craft Your Life Project Kit: Delicate Garden. Here’s a peek at the two different sets that I’ll be using today:

I love that you receive so many different elements in each kit so that you can mix and match, depending on what kind of coloring medium (or none at all!) that you feel like using that day! If you are loving these kits as much as I am, you can always SUBSCRIBE to be sure that you receive a kit each month (and at a discount!). Let’s get started on the details for my projects today!

I love the juxtaposition of crisp black accents and softly colored flowers, and it was this color combination that I had in mind when creating both of these cards. I used Spicy Yogurt cardstock with coral, peach, and mint with intense black accents to create this pair of cards!

For my first card, I stamped the images from Dancing Poppies onto some watercolor paper using Obsidian pigment ink, then clear embossed over the top, which helps to add a level of crispness to the stamping. I used the Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolor Set to add some soft pinky coral to the poppy flowers and some pale minty green to the leaves. I used the one-and-done die to die cut all of the watercolored flowers.

For the background, I wanted to highlight those shiny black lines and dramatic black centers on the watercolored poppies, so I layered together the Rattan Stripes Cover Die twice from some black cardstock, then the Garden Trellis cover plate cut once from black cardstock, to create this unique, super textured, layered background. I adhered all three pieces to a Spicy Yogurt cardstock base using liquid adhesive.

For the greeting, I die cut the “thanks” Sweet Sentiment dies from black and Spicy Yogurt cardstock to coordinate nicely with the creamy background and the watercolor paper itself. I arranged the flowers on my rattan card front, popping them up with Instant Dimension Foam Tape, then added the greeting at the bottom. The final step was to add some gems for sparkle!

My second project features the stunning new Craft Your Life Project Kit: Delicate Garden. I began by stamping all of the floral images in the stamp set using Obsidian pigment ink, then clear embossed over the top to again create those super crisp black lines on my white cardstock. I used the coordinating stencils included in the kit to do some subtle, soft ink blending, creating peachy and minty bouquets using Strawberry, Pink Pearl, Coral Bliss, and Coral Berry inks for the flowers, and Green Meadows inks for the foliage. I die cut all of the blended flowers using the coordinating dies, included with the kit.

I loved each of the floral bouquets so much that I couldn’t bear to leave one off of the card, so I expanded my canvas and created a slimline card front to display them all properly! I created the base from more Spicy Yogurt cardstock, then die cut a large Nesting Slim Labels panel, upon which I stamped some of the floral bouquets again using Obsidian pigment ink, then clear embossed over the top. I popped up the embossed label die cut on the slimline card front using some more Instant Dimension Foam Tape, then arranged the blended florals in a pretty swag down the front of the card. I adhered the bouquet with more foam tape, to create a double layer of foam tape along the edges of the die cut. So much height!

I heat embossed the greetings from the Delicate Garden using the Obsidian and clear embossing powder combination, then fussy cut them with my sharp scissors. I popped those images up from the card front using yet another layer of foam tape, for a grand total of three layers of foam tape in the center of the card! Definitely a card to be hand delivered or placed inside a package, ha. Finally, I added a few black crystals for one last pop of black and touch of sparkle.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Now for some fun giveaway information:

$300+ in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a FULL RELEASE BUNDLE to 1 grand prize winner and a $25 gift certificate to 4 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by March 23, 2023 for a chance to win.Altenew will draw 5 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on March 24, 2023. *The grand prize winner will be chosen from comments left on the Altenew Card Blog.

Here’s the full hop list:

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Hero Arts Spring 2023 Catalog Release Hop+Giveaway!

February 20, 2023

Hi there! Today, Hero Arts is officially releasing their newest catalog for Spring 2023, with tons of images and products utterly redolent of springtime! We are hopping along to celebrate and inspire using these beautiful new products, which you can check out in their entirety HERE. You should have arrived here from Dana Joy, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. You can also start at the beginning over at the Hero Arts Blog. I have a couple of new projects created with my favorite blushy rose gold color combinations, topped off with a pastel-and-charcoal project that you might have seen in the new Spring 2023 catalog! Let’s get started with the details.

I love pink and I cannot lie…. it’s a sickness. And the combination of blush pink with metallic rose gold is one from which I can’t seem to let go. Sorrynotsorry. I have discovered the Hero Arts’s Peony and Pale Tomato inks create the most stunning combination of blush pink, and I want to use it on eeeeevvveeerrryyything. These first two cards feature this lush combination with some pops of metallic rose gold and butterflies. I mean, what could be more indicative of spring than fresh, blushy pink and beautiful butterflies?

My first card uses the beautiful new Butterfly Hot Foil Plate. The size of this butterfly is just right. Big enough to make a bold statement on a project all by itself, but small enough that you can have a few butterflies on the card to create a lovely background! I adore that it coordinates perfectly with the outline on the large Delicate Butterflies Fancy Dies, as well, so you can die cut the foiled butterflies to your heart’s content.

I hot foiled two butterflies with Blush foil, offsetting them slightly on the edges of the white A2 card front. To add some more interest to the background (though the butterflies are lovely enough on their own to easily make a background by themselves!) I lightly blended Peony and Pale Tomato inks around the edge of the foiled panel. Keeping the ink blending light and subtle kept the fluttering butterflies so airy and ethereal! I also splattered some super sparkly rose gold metallic watercolor on the card front to add sparkle and texture. Almost a mixed-media feel, but still light and clean!

I white embossed a greeting from the new Floral Imprints bundle, which comes with some beautiful floral silhouettes but also several gorgeous, simple, all-purpose greetings… and coordinating dies to cut them out! After white embossing, I lightly blended some more Peony ink over the top, then die cut the greeting. Blending before die cutting ensures that the blending is nice and smooth, rather than getting caught on the die cut edges and concentrating the color around the edges. To help draw the eye to the center of the card, I die cut a super delicate white frame using the Nesting Rectangle Infinity Dies, which I adhered directly to the foiled and blended panel using Precision Glue. I popped up the die cut greeting with some foam adhesive, then added a few gems for one last element of sparkle and texture! I feel like this card could be totally all-purpose, for everything from birthday, to birth, to sympathy, to just sending some love to a friend or family member.

My second card features the new Delicate Butterflies Fancy Dies in all of their detailed glory. The die set comes with two different sizes of butterfly, and features both the outline and the detailed layers, so that you have tons of different options for your creative undertakings. I used the detailed layers to create this light and airy card featuring more gorgeous blush pink. I began by doing cutting down a full size slimline card front, 3.5″x8.5″, then doing some ink blending with the Peony and Pale Tomato inks in the zig zag pattern that I wanted my butterflies to follow. I also splattered some more rose gold watercolor on the ink blended area to add some subtle sparkles.

Next, I die cut an abundance of Delicate Butterflies Fancy Dies from Peony cardstock and some blush cardstock that I had in my stash, as well as a few tiny glittering solid butterflies, cut using the smallest of the Nesting Butterfly Infinity Dies and the rose gold paper from the Fall Glitter Paper pack. I arranged the butterflies so that they were popping off the page, adhering them only in the center of the butterfly and lightly curling the die cuts up a bit so that they had a 3D effect. I trimmed off the overhang to make the card fit nicely in a slimline envelope as well.

For the greeting, I heat embossed another greeting from the Floral Imprints bundle, this time on a piece of Peony cardstock. I popped it up in the center of one of the intricate butterfly die cuts using some foam adhesive. The final touch was to add a few blush colored pearls, which helps to add another level of texture and fill in some of the blank spots in the design! Such a delicate, ethereal card, made lovely with those intricate butterfly die cuts.

My second card is one that was created for the new catalog. I have a mild obsession with hot foiling on Hero Arts Acetate, and I used this technique several times to create projects for the new catalog. The project above was created using the glorious new Poppy Field Hot Foil Plate on Acetate with Pewter foil. The super smooth surface of the acetate creates absolutely perfect foiled results!

Because the acetate is completely transparent, I wanted a simple background that wouldn’t distract from the patterned, super shiny acetate panel. I lightly blended some Mist ink around the edge of an A2 Mist card front to add a little bit of interest to the flat cardstock panel. I trimmed the foiled panel down slightly so that the Mist cardstock would frame the edges, then hid small pieces of foam tape behind the solid hot foiled flowers so that they wouldn’t mar the transparent acetate.

For the greeting, I heat embossed a sentiment from the Wild Columbine bundle, stamping it with black pigment ink and then heat embossing with the White Satin Pearl embossing powder, the combination of which creates a lovely pearlescent charcoal that coordinates beautifully with the pewter hot foil. I also die cut a vellum frame using the Infinity Tag Frames dies and some of Hero Art’s Vellum paper. I layered the sentiment pieces in the center of the vellum tag die cut and adhered them using foam adhesive, then added another layer of foam adhesive on the solid areas behind the die cut to hide it. I love the unique look of the hot foil on the acetate! I think it’s so different and so cool, and the perfect foiled results that you get with the acetate just cannot be beat.

Well, that’s all for my projects today. Now for some fun giveaway information!

We’ll be giving away two $50 gift cards, drawn from the comments left along the hop. Comment on all the blogs for more chances to win! You have until Sunday, February 26 at 11:59pm to enter. The winners will be announced on the Hero Arts blog.

Your next stop is Ilina Crouse. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Peachy Keen with Spellbinders + Sale!!

September 28, 2022

Hi there! I have been cleaning up my computer and realized that I have some projects featuring some older Spellbinders products that I never shared with you. Luckily, some of the products are on sale during the Spellbinders Fall Warehouse Sale, happening right now!

These pale peach cards are an homage to one of my most favorite (and most unique) shades of cardstock from the Spellbinders Cardstock line: Barely Peach. I used this beautiful shade of pale peach cardstock as the basis to create these monochromatic cards. Let’s get started with the details!

My first card features the Half Slimline Oval dies (which are on sale right now!) to create this lovely, soft, and feminine slimline card. I began by die cutting the detailed frame from the Half Slimline Oval from some Barely Peach cardstock and backed it with a piece of white cardstock. This soft peach layered with the white background creates a lovely base for the details, not quite monochromatic, but still very softly textured and interesting.

Next, I die cut several pieces of foliage from some more white cardstock using the Wreath Builder dies. I love using non-traditional colors for foliage. I think it creates such a unique look! I cut some blooms from some the Wreath Builder using more Barely Peach cardstock, adding the centers with some pale Rose Gold Foil Cardstock from Simon Says Stamp. (That foil is one of the most beautiful shades of foil cardstock I’ve seen… so unique!) It was the perfect complementary shade for my pale peach cardstock-it adds a new textural element without adding a new color to the card front. I die cut the “beautiful” from the Half Slimline Oval and a “thanks” from Yana’s Layered Script Sentiment dies (also on sale!), adhering them with liquid adhesive next to my floral bouquet. The final touch was a few iridescent peach pearls to add another element of texture and shine!

My second card features the Stitched Hi dies with some more of the Barely Peach cardstock and Rose Gold Foil Cardstock. I am not much with a needle and thread… I would like to learn, but that’s one more thing to add to my list of things I’d like to do in my “free” time (anybody know where I can find some of that? haha!), but luckily the “stitching” patterns on these dies look like some lovely intricate details even without the addition of the stitching. I layered the detailed metallic foil die cuts on the solid peach die cuts to create a large monochromatic sentiment die cut.

For the card base, I used the Wreath Builder dies to create some flowing vines and foliage down the side of my A2 peach card front, cutting them again from white and peach cardstock, adding rose gold foil centers to the flowers, adhering the die cuts with liquid adhesive. I layered the large “hi” over the detailed and textured floral background using foam adhesive, adding a white die cut “friend” from the Half Slimline Oval. Finally, I added a few more peach iridescent pearls for one more touch of shine.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! I hope you’ll check out the Spellbinders Fall Warehouse Sale… there are some absolutely fantastic deals happening (I’ve spent way too much money there already. Happy birthday to me haha!), including the Glimmer Hot Foil System on sale for $89.99. That’s an incredible deal! The Spellbinders Platinum and Platinum 6 die cut machines are also on sale for great prices. If you’ve been contemplating a new die cut machine or hot foil system, I can’t recommend these highly enough, and these prices are outstanding.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy shopping!

Pinkfresh Studio Holiday 2022 Release Blog Hop + Giveaway!

September 12, 2022

It’s that time again… time for Christmas crafting to get into full swing!! I am in love with the new Pinkfresh Studio Holiday 2022 collection… so many beautiful new stamps, dies, hot foil plates, and stencils, with elegant, timeless themes and images that will last for years! We are hopping along to inspire you today (you can find the full hop list at the bottom of this post), and I have two projects to share with you, so let’s get started with the details!

If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you’ll know that one of my most favorite things about crafting is color. I love to use dramatic and unexpected color combinations… but I also equally love white space and allowing texture and height to be the star of the show. These cards combine my love of brilliant color with that gorgeous white space. For all of my cards, I kept the color scheme to a bold and unique holiday color scheme of hot pink, lime green, and crisp white, with some metallic shine thrown in for some extra holiday festiveness!

I began my first card by heat embossing the images from the new Holiday Elements stamp set using white pearl embossing powder on white cardstock. I then added lots of color to the images using the coordinating Holiday Elements stencils, using blending brushes and Raspberry Bliss, Bubble Gum, Sparkling Rose, Key Lime, and Grassy Knoll inks from Pinkfresh Studio. The hint of metallic shine from the pearlescent embossed lines is so festive! I die cut the finished images using the coordinating Holiday Elements die.

For the greeting, I combined the fabulous new Merry and Bright Hot Foil Plate and coordinating die with the Solid Hot Foil Plate. The Solid Hot Foil Plate leaves the negative space from the original image the color of your cardstock, so these chunky white letters framed by hot pink glittery foil worked perfectly with the crisp white accents of the stenciled images.

I trimmed down a white slimline card base, then added a label from the Slim Ornate Banner die set, popping it up with foam adhesive. I arranged the holiday images and greeting on the card front, allowing some to spill over the sides, and adhering them with single and double layers of foam tape to add lots of height and dimension to the card front. I also added a few glittering foliage die cuts, cut using the Dainty Blossoms dies. The final touch was to add some sparkling Bubblegum gems to help add one last element of holiday sparkle!

My second project features the new Ornaments Hot Foil Plate with the coordinating Stencils and Dies. I used the same ink shades from the previous project (Raspberry Bliss, Bubble Gum, Sparkling Rose, Key Lime, and Grassy Knoll) to add lots of vivid color to the hot foiled ornaments. I also paired the leftover foil piece with the Solid Hot Foil Plate, creating solid metallic foil ornaments!

For the greeting, I used Olive, Key Lime, and Grassy Knoll inks to blend sentiments from the brand new Brushed Sentiments: Holiday stencils. These sentiments are *so* unique and the font is absolutely gorgeous!! I die cut the finished stenciled images with the coordinating dies, and because of the multi-sentiment layout of the stencils, I was able to stencil and die cut a ton of greetings in one fell swoop! I always love this feature of the Pinkfresh Studio product suites, but it’s especially handy for holiday crafting, don’t you think? If stenciling isn’t your favorite thing, it is especially nice that there are also coordinating Brushed Holiday Stamps and Brushed Holiday Hot Foil Plates available, so you have tons of options depending on your area of interest!

I die cut a crisp white background using the Diagonal Stitched Plaid die, as well as a glittery gold frame from the Mini Slimline Stitched Scalloped Rectangle die, which I trimmed down slightly and popped up on the plaid die cut card front using foam tape. I arranged the ornaments on the card front, clustering them together as though they were hanging from the ceiling from different lengths, and adhering them using foam tape and liquid adhesive. Finally, I added the Brushed Sentiments: Holiday greeting using a double layer of foam tape so that it really stands out from the colorful background images. The final touch was a few Emerald City Gems for some more sparkle!

Well, that’s all for these projects. Now for some fun giveaway information!

Pinkfresh Studio will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel, so be sure to check those out! They will also be giving away a total of TEN $25 gift cards along the hop. As per usual with blog hops – the winners will be picked from the comments. The winners will be announced on September 20, 2022 on our GIVEAWAY PAGE. Winners must check that page & claim your prize within 2 weeks.

Here’s the full hop list so that you can check out the masses of inspiration to jumpstart your holiday cardmaking! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Creating a Vintage Color Palette with Neutrals!

July 20, 2022

Hi there! Today, I’m up on the Pinkfresh Studio YouTube channel with a video using my oldie-but-still-a-goodie Miss Your Smile stamp set, which was one of the very first sets that I illustrated for Pinkfresh Studio! Miss Your Smile may be a bit older, but coloring it gets even more fun with each use, and today I share some tips on how to get more from your watercolors by mixing neutrals with your super bright colors to create a more vintage-y color palette. You can watch the video below or click HERE to watch on YouTube.

In case you can’t watch the video, I’ll do a quick rundown of how I made this project with some still photos. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by heat embossing the large floral image from Miss Your Smile using some metallic peach embossing powder onto a full size slimline card base created from Arches Cold Press watercolor paper. The metallic peach embossing powder is a lovely, soft alternative to the traditional gold or black stamping! Next, I used my Holbein watercolors to do some watercoloring on this huge image. I wanted to create a more muted, vintage color scheme, so I chose some of the brightest shades of fuchsia and hot pink in my watercolor palette and mixed them with a deep, plummy chocolate brown. Mixing the bright colors with the very dark neutral brown helped to tone down the colors without making them lose their vibrancy.

Once I had finished watercoloring, I felt like the top corner was a bit too open and starkly white to match the soft, muted color palette of the flowers, so I very lightly blended some Soft Lilac ink in the corner opposite the flowers, muting the cool lilac by lightly blending some Warm Buff ink over the top of it. Pairing the two unlikely ink shades is such a fun way to create a wider color palette using the inks and watercolors that you already have!

Once I had finished my card base, I die cut a beautiful Ornate Circle die cut from some coordinating metallic peach foil cardstock. I created a greeting by simultaneously die cutting both pieces of the Lots of Love die set from some coordinating deep plum cardstock. I made sure to keep the interiors of the letters safe (such as on the “o” and “e”), then adhered them in the center of the die cut. I love how the negative space in the greeting still allows you to see the watercoloring without feeling clunky or overbearing on the watercolored panel! The final touch was to add a few Sparkling Champagne pearls to finish it off.

Well, that’s all for my project today! I hope that you enjoyed that project. I encourage you to try mixing in some neutrals to your bright watercolors or ink blending… it’s such fun to see how the colors can be manipulated to create totally new color palettes from the colors that you already have! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!